Sorry Jack
"Sorry Jack" is a song by the Cloudsdale synthpop group the ALPS from their 2014 album Nightmare Night. The song was written by Frosty and was influenced by his negative view of the humans after the ALPS' voyage to the human world. The song includes one of the first uses of human anatomy in songwriting. Composition Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Sorry Man", but changed the title to "Sorry Jack" at Rainbow Speed's request. Frosty was disillusioned after an ALPS technician claimed that unnmed humans had made sexual advances to mares attending the course. (Speed, Naz, and Teal later said that they thought the story, which had come from Magic Keyno, had been fabricated.) Frosty once said of the song: "That was inspired by the humans. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left Earth. I just called him, 'Jack,' instead of (sings) 'So sorry man, but better luck next time...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the humans with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be." He told Rolling Stone that when the humans asked why he was leaving, he replied, "Well, if you're so advanced, you'll figure out why." After returning from Earth, Frosty scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Sorry Man". The recorded version changed only after Speed insisted that if the song were used she wanted the name changed and persuaded Frosty to change the title to "Sorry Jack". Speed recounts the event in the director's cut of the Anthology film. The ALPS' press officer remembered Frosty's fiddling about scratching the wood in the Rainbow Records offices. The wood ended up in the possession of Teal's wife and was ultimately sold to an ALPS collector. According to an ALPS historian, an early outtake of "Sorry Jack" features Frosty demonstrating the song's original working lyrics to the rest of the band: "So sorry men, cunts, fucks, but better luck next time." The song also includes the lyric "date with his hand", one of the first uses of human anatomy in songwriting. The use of explicit words in this song, along with One Trick Pony, resulted in the songs being given an explicit rating and being banned from BBC Radio 1. The lyrics drew criticism from some music journalists, but one journalist describes the "bold move" to be "important for the progression of not just the ALPS, but popular music in general". Recording The song was recorded over several days in mid-March 2014. The song was originally based around a heavy bass sound, but expanded to include an orchestral backing and other instruments such as the glockenspiel. Frosty changed the lyrics of the song mid-way through the first session, and the song went from being a direct critique of the humans at the course to a general story of unrequited love. The original backing track was recorded and perfect over the days of 19 to 21 March. Naz overdubbed a glockenspiel opening on 22 March. Frosty's vocals were heavily processed through a Leslie speaker to make it sound like someone else was actually singing the song, and were recorded on 23 March. Violins were recorded by using session musicians from Rainbow Records on 24 March. Release and reception "Sorry Jack" was released on 10 July 2014, with the Nightmare Night album. Both the album and song were released by Rainbow Records. Critics have often praised the song, with one reviewer calling the shift from light to heavy sound "brilliant". Both Frosty and Naz have called the song of their favorites from the album. Naz said, "got to hand it to Frosty on that one. Super ahead of its time." Personnel *Frosty – lead and harmony vocals, heavy bass *Rainbow Speed – heavy synth *Naz – heavy synth, glockenspiel *Teal – drums, tambourine *Unnamed musicians – violins